Europe News

By: Reuters
Miners' output costs have dropped more than industry consensus due to lower energy prices and weak emerging market currencies, a report by Societe Generale showed, suggesting metals prices have further to fall before miners are forced out of business. The prices of many metals are still around... →

By: Reuters
Gold mining companies are turning increasingly to derivatives to lock in future revenues, as an industry still smarting from losing out on a 12-year bull run gets creative over protecting its income during the metal's current downturn. While miners overall remain wary of hedging -- the... →

By: Reuters
India's gold jewellery exports could jump five times to $40-billion per year by 2020 if quality controls are tightened, the World Gold Council (WGC) said, adding the country is punching below its weight due to questions over the purity of its products. Mom-and-pop shops employing generational... →

By: Megan van Wyngaardt
In a world where new discoveries are rare, Harmony Gold is encouraged by the prospect that Kili Teke could well develop into another major copper-gold discovery, commented CEO Graham Briggs. Additional drilling at the JSE-listed miner’s Kili Teke prospect in the Hela province, in Papua New Guinea... →

By: Henry Lazenby
TSX- and ASX-listed Alacer Gold this week reported strong results for the quarter ended June, as lower costs and improved production boosted its bottom line. The Toronto-headquartered company on Monday reported an 8% improvement in gold production from its 80%-owned Çöpler gold mine, in Turkey,... →

By: Natasha Odendaal
The new International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standard setting out the classification and providing clarity on the terms when buying and selling diamonds, treated diamonds and synthetic diamonds has been welcomed by industry bodies. ISO International Standard 18323: 2015 Jewellery... →

By: Reuters
Physical coal prices in Australia and Europe continued to fall over the past week, pushed lower by concerns over demand in China after a massive rout in the country's stock market. Cargoes for delivery into Europe's main ports at Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp in August last closed at $57.40 a... →

By: Reuters
China's gold imports could fall as much as 40% this year as demand for bullion used to back domestic financing deals decreases, the world's biggest refiner Valcambi said. A lot of the gold China imported in the last three years was used to secure cheaper loans due to a liquidity crunch, but that... →

By: Megan van Wyngaardt
Vast Resources has raised £1.26-million through a placing of 45.4-million ordinary shares at 0.1p apiece and a subscription of 60-million ordinary shares at 1.2p apiece. The Aim-listed gold developer sought to provide additional funds to further its mining projects in Romania and also for general... →

By: Megan van Wyngaardt
Diamond mining giant De Beers on Friday said that, despite a challenging first half, it still achieved a solid operating performance. However, its underlying earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) decreased by 25% to $576-million for the six months ended June, compared with $765-million in the... →

By: Reuters
As the global bullion market continues to reel from a dramatic plunge in gold prices on Monday, traders from Hong Kong to New York are pointing the finger at others for being behind the move while struggling to unmask the mystery sellers. In early Asian trading hours on Monday, investors dumped... →

By: Martin Creamer
Technical fundi Tony O’Neill, who put his imprimatur on game-changing technology during his short spell in South Africa, has been appointed with immediate effect to the board of Anglo American as an executive director, less than two years after taking over the company’s technology, business... →

By: Reuters
European thermal coal prices edged lower on Wednesday, as ample supplies met weak demand, with brokers and analysts expecting the outlook for prices to remain bearish. European cargoes for delivery into Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Antwerp (ARA) in August last closed at $58.35 a tonne, having fallen... →

By: Megan van Wyngaardt
Triple-listed iron-ore developer Ferrum Crescent has not yet received the first R2-million payment by Principle Monarchy Investments (PMI) to advance work on a bankable feasibility study (BFS) for its Moonlight iron-ore project, in Limpopo. It reported on Wednesday that PMI had concluded a... →

By: Megan van Wyngaardt
Aim-listed copper miner Weatherly International’s Tschudi mine, in Namibia, has produced 2 257 t of LME Grade A copper cathode in the quarter ended June 30. Production for the first full quarter of operations was more than 50% of design capacity. →

By: Esmarie Swanepoel
Mining heavyweight BHP Billiton has reported a 9% increase in group production for the full-year ended June, driven by higher iron-ore, petroleum and metallurgical coal output.
“Our business performed well over the 2015 financial year. We have improved the performance of our equipment, reduced... →

By: Henry Lazenby
Canadian gold project developer Gabriel Resources has filed a request for arbitration before the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) against Romania. The TSX-listed company had been embroiled in a longstanding dispute with Romania over the development... →

By: Martin Creamer
Allegations that female employees were being targeted for retrenchment at Optimum colliery were baseless, Glencore said on Wednesday. Female employees make up 15% of the total affected employees. →

By: Reuters
Blame poor rains or a lack of weddings, but Indians, for whom gold is the investment of choice, aren't rushing to buy bullion after this week's sharp sell-off.
India and China are the world's top gold buyers and, after massive selling on the Shanghai Gold Exchange on Monday helped drive down... →

By: Martin Creamer
South African iron-ore major Kumba Iron Ore has taken the knife to 1 772 jobs as low iron-ore prices cut a swathe through the industry. Out of a previous complement of 572, only 221 permanent and fixed-term employees remained at head office, with the 351 head office jobs cut by the Anglo American... →

By: Megan van Wyngaardt
East Africa-focused Shanta Gold produced 14 664 oz of gold in the quarter ended June 30, selling 11 590 oz at an average price of $1 222/oz. The remaining 2 673 oz was in transit at quarter-end. →

By: Reuters
Copper's production costs have fallen in the wake of lower oil prices and weaker local currencies, which means most miners will continue to pump out metal despite a recent slide in prices. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange tumbled nearly a fifth between early May and earlier this... →

By: Reuters
A dramatic slide in gold prices this week threatens to squash a run of mining mergers and acquisitions just as momentum in the sector was picking up. Mining executives and fund managers warn predators will turn more cautious before splashing out cash or approving capital raisings, at least until... →

By: Martin Creamer
The earnings of South African iron-ore major Kumba plummeted in the six months to June 30 accompanied by a shattering of the iron-ore price, the closing of Thabazimbi mine, a rejigging of the remaining mines and a decision not to declare an interim dividend in a company that has been a... →

By: Martin Creamer
Most of the platinum ounces produced by the world’s biggest platinum company in the next ten years would come from mechanised mining, Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) CEO Chris Griffith said on Monday. Delivering a strong set of results for the six months to June 30 – which saw profit soar 704%... →

By: Megan van Wyngaardt
The process plant at Aureus Mining’s New Liberty gold mine, in Liberia, has reached nameplate capacity, following a successful period of commissioning. The process plant recently underwent a 24-hour performance test, during which time the plant was operating at a feed rate of 152 t/h of... →

By: Reuters
Gold's 4% slide in a matter of minutes on Monday came after a record 3.3 million lots of the metal, or about 33 tonnes, were traded on a key Shanghai physical contract, as top consumer China appears to be increasingly shunning bullion. The selling came as investors have been finding less and less... →

By: Reuters
As if slumping commodity prices and unhappy shareholders were not enough, global mining companies are also facing a looming succession crisis. Several mining CEOs have reached or are nearing retirement age and industry executives, recruiters and analysts worry that there is not enough people with... →